title Ribbons
author pinkeop
summary "The king of this house does NOT appreciate your antics!"
authors note Race-prompt between Brina and I! She gave me a prompt I gave her a prompt and god-forbid this is what came out of it! Tried my hardest to keep them in character. Cause, well, you know. Wouldn't want to disappoint my darling reviewers.
And I JUST picked up String of Pearls today, guys, so I'm really excited to start reading the original story of Sweeney Todd and doing some concept sketches!
Alright, here we go...
Love!
Pink Elephants on Parade
--
Ribbons
It was Christmas time. Ever since she was a little girl, Mrs. Lovett loved Christmas time. She loved snuggling down in her sheets and awaiting for St. Nickolas to come and bring her presents. Times were hard then, too, and she only ever got a few presents, and soon they stopped coming at all. But instead, as she aged, Mrs. Lovett began getting more into giving and decorating and baking and just the general spirit of the Holidays. It was so warm- even if the dead of winter! -and mirthful that she couldn't find herself damp on such a wonderful Holiday! Albert would buy her a pretty dress every Christmas, and when he lived above her, Benjamin Barker would always come and help her make Christmas dinner, and then they all, herself, Albert, Mr. Barker and his lovely Lucy, and later their darling little Johanna, would all sit in the parlor and induldge in the delicious chicken dinner her and Mr. Barker would have prepared the night before.
Sweeney Todd didn't enjoy being around her much, nor was he a very Holiday-oriented person. He hadn't come down since she closed up shop early and told him he best let anyone he decided to shave get off with an intact neck, because she was just gonna let them rot down there in their stick. To her satisfaction, the man had also closed up his tonsorial parlor and sat up there all day, no doubt bored of of his wits and in a very sour mood. But, Mrs. Lovett was not put out, for she had Toby! And a giant crate full of christmas-like decorations and lots of Holiday-smelling candles. It was Christmas Eve, and all through the house every creature known to man was stirring what with the wild racket Mrs. Lovett and the boy were making.
"Toby, dear!" The kind woman crowed as she stood on a chair, trying to hang some shiney ribbons on the mantle high above the fireplace where nothing had sat for years. Dust fluttered in her face and made her eyes water. "I don't think I can reach them nails up there." The nails Benjamin had put in long ago when they first hung up decorations together, so she could hang the white and red and green ribbons. "I think I shrunk a few inches! Goodness, me," the woman let the ribbon flutter to the ground beneath her feet, and hopped off the chair.
"I know!" The woman spoke out loud happily. Mr. T! He, while probably not in the best of moods since she black mailed him to close up early, was a tall, lean sort of fellow. Probably strong from all those years in Australia. Perhaps he, with them long arms and big hands, could hang up her pretty ribbons and give the parlor a nice cheery feeling. In the corner of the parlor, in front of the old piano, stood a sad looking excuse for a Christmas tree. It was crooked and ugly and short and had a few decorations fallen off it, but Mrs. Lovett gave it a fond brush of her finger tips along it's needles as she passed to exit the parlor, leaving Toby to continue placing up the tiny, wooden Nativity scene on the window sill.
The woman didn't think to grab her jacket before she stepped out in the winter air, shutting the court door behind her to keep the heat inside the little shop. Quickly as she could, the woman bustled up the snow-covered stairs and fumbled with the cold door knob as she thrust open the barber shop door. When she closed it behind her she was glad to be out of the wind, but upstairs wasn't any warmer than it was outside! Goose pimples rising on her flesh and her teeth chattering and shiver after shiver graced her body, Mrs. Lovett's eyes fell on the man she'd come looking for. There Mr. Todd was, sitting in his chair, his shoulders hunched, his barber jacket around him, arms crossed, jaw clenched so tight to stop his teeth from chattering that it looked like he would pop something in his forehead.
"Yeh barkin' man, Mr. T!" the baker crowed. He didn't bother looking at her. She moved to his side, forgetting her own frigid coldness, and grabbed him by the upper arms and attempted to haul him to his feet. He was dead weight that didn't want to move, and his dark eyes flickered up to gaze at her in faint annoyance.
"Yeh gonna catch yeh death up 'ere, Mr. T! Why don't you ever listen to me when I tells yeh to come down stairs for a spell? C'mon, then, s'pose we'll 'ave to thaw yeh out infront of the fire. Come on, get up, yeh stupid brute!" She slapped him on the shoulder and it seemed to jar him from his litte pity party of grief and dispair for enough moments to let him let her haul him to his feet. Her arm wrapped around his waist, but he couldn't find the warmth to make his arms loosen from their strangle hold against his own chest, crossed so tight that they were starting to ache. Together, the two of them made it down the stairs, side by side, and Mrs. Lovett pushed him into the shop. She closed the door behind them and was instantly greatful for the roaring fire that kept the whole house nice and warm. She began to thaw instantly, but poor Mr. Todd wasn't as lucky.
"Come on, love," she said more soothinly as she lead him into the parlor and sat him down on the couch. "Once yeh no longer ice-like, yeh think yeh can give me a 'and 'ere and put up this ribbon up there on the nails? Yeh always did it back in the days an' I'm simply too small to get up there meself." She shook her head and held up the ribbon for him to see. She saw. Mr. Todd's eyes flicker from the ribbon to the nails and sometime constricted in his face- pain, maybe.
"Mum, can I 'ave a cookie?" Toby asked from where he sat comfortably beside the Christmas tree, eyeing the presents that she was able to afford for him. Only three, but the boy who'd probably never had a Christmas in his life was greedily watching them. She had two for Mr. Todd under the tree as well, so there were five presents total. It didn't hurt that Mr. Todd didn't bother to get her anything, what with his mind so occupied with revenge, and all. No, she didn't mind one bit.
"Go ahead, love," Mrs. Lovett called over her shoulder and watched the boy disappear into the kitchen.
"Yeh think yeh could put these up fer me?" She asked Mr. Todd, looking at him with wide innocent eyes. The barber curled his lip back and glanced upward again, before standing in one swift motion and nudging her out of his way, grabbing the ribbon harshly from her, almost ripping it in the process.
As he hung the ribbons up for her, Mrs. Lovett gazed around the room fondly. It felt so cozy and homey and warm and the blasting cold outside was a far off memory- perhaps even for Mr. Todd, as well, because half way through putting up the ribbons, he shrugged out of his baber's jacket, leaving him in just his white shirt, free of blood stains today, and his vest. Mrs. Lovett took it and hung it on the old rocking chair that she set the crate of decorations on. Something caught her eye and ever so curiously, the woman reached in.
Out she pulled a little toy tiara, something she would wear when she was just a slip of a girl, skinny as could be and fascinated with growing up to become a pretty, pretty princess. She laughed now to herself as she folded it against her mid section, moving around the back of the couch just as Mr. Todd hopped off the chair and flopped back into his original spot, glaring into the fire.
"There," he said, his voice slightly loud, as if he wasn't sure where she was in the room and he wanted to make sure she hear him. "I got your bloomin' ribbons up."
"Thank yeh, love!" she crooned, taking the little tiara and placing it atop his head. It sat on his wild hedge of hair lop-sidedly, but the sight made her giggle her fool head off. As she leaned over the back of the couch to get a better look, at his face, he looked like a mix between absolutely livid and slightly horrified about what she had placed on his head. With one large hand, he reached up and ripped it off, messing his hair even more in the process. He gave it a once over and snorted, tossing it onto the couch beside him.
"Aw, but Mr. T," Mrs. Lovett said playfully, grabbing the toy crown again and placing it on his head. "Yeh look fit ta be a king!"
"Quit that," he snarled, once more removing the tiara.
Back on his head it went.
"The king of this house does not appreciate your antics!" he snapped, grabbing the tiara and turning halfway around on the couch, grabbing her chin roughly in one hand. The other fixed the little toy daintily on her medusa-hair. His lip curled back, as if he were smiling just slight, before he turned around and continued to sulkily stare at the fire.
Mrs. Lovett chuckled as she moved around to the front of the couch, sitting at his side, closer than she normally would, and leant her head against his shoulder. The tiara didn't balance, and it tumbled off her head and bounced off his lap and onto the floor. Neither moved to pick it up. He didn't shrug her off as he normally would have with her attempt at being close with him. But he didn't invite her in, either. She tilted her chin up so she could look at the side of his face, his profile sharp and tired and old-looking. But he was beautiful. She sighed softly and snuggled closer.
"Mum, I brought you a cookie!" Toby crowed as he re-entered the room. His expression was a bit confused and slightly surprised to see the baker and the barber in such a position, but he relaxed a bit when he saw that the barber was not returning his dear mum's affection. Mrs. Lovett's smile was warm as she held a hand out to review the large oatmeal cookie. She snapped it in half and held one peice of it for the barber. He glanced down momentarily, then shook his head just a fraction of an inch in either direction.
"Oh, c'mon," she pouted. "Where's yeh Holiday spirit, Mr. T? Theys Christmas cookies."
"Is they now?" he asked dryly. Mrs. Lovett held one up to his mouth and reluctantly, he opened it and bit down. His eye squinted slightly as he chewed, more slowly that she would have liked him to.
"You might 'as told me they was hot..." he gagged.
Mrs. Lovett laughed out loud and placed his piece of cookie in his lap, waiting a spell before she dared to eat her own. Toby crawled onto the couch on Mrs. Lovett's other side after a while and nestled his head against her hip, falling into a sound slumber, her arm tucking around his shoulders. She leaned against Mr. Todd, having somehow managed to secure his arm around her own shoulders, her face pressed into his collar bone. The two of them sat awake, watching the fire dance and slowly begin to die, the heat still trapped inside the warm room.
"Don't yeh just love the 'olidays, Mr. T?" she asked in a soft voice after they'd been silent for a while.
The barber only grunted.
"I spent fifteen years alone," she murmured. "Ain't never 'ad not reason to get all prettied up for the 'olidays then. Sat in me hole wiv no one to talk to- so I started talkin' to meself, even if there was no one around to listen. Did 'ave no one to decorate wiv. I couldn't reach them nails up there." Her eyes snapped to where the ribbons were hung around the parlor. "Could afford meself a tree, or enough ingredients or meats to make those dinners yeh used to 'elp me make. But I'm sure yeh had it a bit worse." She glanced up to watch his face, but he just stared soundlessly at the fire, his face not exactly in a scowl, but not entirely apathetic.
"This is the first Christmas I 'ad since yeh left that I even bothered makin' some cookies fer. Much less goin' out an' gettin' a whole tree." Mrs. Lovett chuckled softly. "First Christmas I could get up them damn ribbons, too."
Mr. Todd's arm flexed around her and she realized he was pulling her closer against the side she was snuggled up against.
"It's ok, Mr. T," she whispered. "Yeh don't 'ave to say nothin' back."
And he didn't. Instead, he turned his head a fraction of an inch, and she thought for a moment she felt his lips brush the top of her head, but she wasn't entirely sure. What she was sure of, was that she felt the barber's body slump and relax, his grip around her shoulders loosening considerably. His feet went up on the foot rest and she was able to snuggle closer to him, which he neither repelled nor invited. It was nice, having her Mr. Barker- her Mr. Todd -back home. Ever so nice. And snuggled to her hip was her darling Toby.
"Get some rest, love," she whispered quietly. "Yeh need it. Nice 'ere in front of the fire, eh?"
"Mmm," the man murmured softly, his eyes slipping closed. Her head now rested on his shoulder as the two of them made themselves comfortable against each other on the couch, Toby curled up on their right.
"I'll chase away the demons," she promised softly, but the man was already too far gone in unconcious exhaustion to hear her and soon she too slipped into a quiet slumber.
It was quite a sight to see come Christmas morn, as somehow throughout the night, the baker and the barber had shifted, the man sleeping slumped upright, the woman with her head in his lap, and the child sprawled over the baker with his head resting on ther mid section, all of them soundly sleeping through the night. Perhaps, not as a family, but together the only people they had left in the dark, blistery, cold world outside that warm, heated parlor.